Common and alternative methods for installing an IBM data server
client or driver.
Clients are commonly installed on machines where there is no server
present. You do not need to install a client if you already installed
a server product is already installed because the server includes
all the functionality present in an IBM® data server client.
Common situations
The common method for
installing an IBM data server client or driver is to run the installation program provided
on a product DVD (setup command on Windows operating systems and db2setup command on Linux and UNIX operating systems). The IBM Data
Server Client installation image is included in the database server
installation image.
Automation of large-scale deployments
One
group of methods automates the deployment of large numbers of clients:
- Response file. You can automate client installation by
using the response file installation method. A response file installation
lets you install database products without any user interaction.
- Third-party deployment tools. You can install clients using
deployment tools or methods such as Windows Active Directory, Windows Systems Management Server (SMS), or Tivoli® products.
Use of Windows operating system capabilities
Another group of options
uses Windows operating system
capabilities:
- Windows thin client
topology. This option is supported for the IBM Data
Server Client and DB2 Connect™ Personal Edition. A thin client topology is where client code is
installed in a shared Windows directory on a single code server rather than on the local hard
disk of each client workstation. Individual client workstations connect
to the shared Windows directory
on the code server to run the Data Server
Client code.
- A Windows non-administrator
ID. The common installation method uses a Windows administrator user ID: that is, a
user ID in the Administrators group. However, you can also install
an IBM data server client using a user ID that is part of the Windows Power® Users group or Users group. This method is suitable when
the user ID performing the installation does not have administrator
privileges. The DB2® product
also supports the Windows Elevated Privileges mechanism. It is recommended to use Windows Elevated Privileges to allow a non-administrator
to install an IBM data server client.
Linux and UNIX alternatives
On Linux and UNIX operating systems, an alternative installation
method provided for database servers is also applicable to clients:
the db2_install script.
Important: The command db2_install is deprecated and might be removed in a future release. Use the db2setup command with a response file instead.
Also, IBM Data Server Driver for ODBC
and CLI is available as a tar file.
Separate client instances
If a database server product
is installed, you can use a separate client instance instead of using
a server instance that also serves as a client instance.
To
create a separate client instance, use the
db2icrt command with the
-s option, as shown in the
following example:
db2icrt -s client instname